Crossfire (film)

Crossfire
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Edward Dmytryk
Produced by	Executive producer: Dore Schary Producer: Adrian Scott
Written by	Story: Richard Brooks Screenplay: John Paxton
Starring	Robert Young Robert Mitchum Robert Ryan Gloria Grahame
Music by	Roy Webb
Cinematography	J. Roy Hunt
Editing by	Harry Gerstad
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	July 22, 1947 (1947-07-22)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$250,000

Crossfire (1947) is a film noir drama film which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism,^[1][2] as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk^[3] and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the 1945 novel The Brick Foxhole by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks. The film features Robert Mitchum, Robert Young, Robert Ryan and Gloria Grahame. It received five Academy Award nominations, including Ryan for Best Supporting Actor and Gloria Grahame for Best Supporting Actress.^[4] It was the first B movie to receive a best picture nomination.^[5]

Plot

After he's called in to investigate the brutal killing of Joseph Samuels (Sam Levene), who was found dead at his home, police investigator Finlay (Robert Young) discovers there may be a murderer among a group of demobilized soldiers, who had been seen with Samuels and his female friend at a hotel bar that night.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Keeley (Robert Mitchum), concerned that his friend Mitch (George Cooper) may be the prime suspect, decides to investigate the murder to clear his friend's name. To both investigators, each suspected soldier relays their version of that night through a flashback. The first to step up is Montgomery (Robert Ryan) and the rest are Floyd (Steve Brodie), Mitch, and a possible witness Ginny (Gloria Grahame).

As Finlay and Keeley slowly piece together the fragments of that night, they realize there is one possible motive that may have driven the killer to beat an innocent to death, which prompts Finlay to set up a trap to expose the killer.

Cast

• Robert Young as Capt. Finlay
• Robert Mitchum as Sgt. Peter Keeley
• Robert Ryan as Montgomery
• Gloria Grahame as Ginny Tremaine
• Paul Kelly as Mr. Tremaine
• Sam Levene as Joseph Samuels
• Jacqueline White as Mary Mitchell
• Steve Brodie as Floyd Bowers
• George Cooper as Cpl. Arthur Mitchell
• Richard Benedict as Bill Williams
• Tom Keene as Dick, detective (as Richard Powers)
• William Phipps as Leroy
• Lex Barker as Harry
• Marlo Dwyer as Miss Lewis

Critical reception

When first released, the staff at Variety magazine gave the film a positive review, writing, "Crossfire is a frank spotlight on anti-Semitism. Producer Dore Schary, in association with Adrian Scott, has pulled no punches. There is no skirting such relative fol-de-rol as intermarriage or clubs that exclude Jews. Here is a hard-hitting film [based on Richard Brooks' novel, The Brick Foxhole] whose whodunit aspects are fundamentally incidental to the overall thesis of bigotry and race prejudice...Director Edward Dmytryk has drawn gripping portraitures. The flashback technique is effective as it shades and colors the sundry attitudes of the heavy, as seen or recalled by the rest of the cast."^[6]

New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther lauded the acting in the drama, and wrote, "Mr. Dmytryk has handled most excellently a superlative cast which plays the drama. Robert Ryan is frighteningly real as the hard, sinewy, loud-mouthed, intolerant and vicious murderer, and Robert Mitchum, Steve Brodie and George Cooper are variously revealing as his pals. Robert Young gives a fine taut performance as the patiently questing D. A., whose mind and sensibilities are revolted—and eloquently expressed—by what he finds. Sam Levene is affectingly gentle in his brief bit as the Jewish victim, and Gloria Grahame is believably brazen and pathetic as a girl of the streets."^[7]

Critic Dennis Schwartz questioned the noir aspects of the film and discussed the cinematography in his review. He wrote, "This is more of a message film than a noir thriller, but has been classified by most cinephiles in the noir category...J. Roy Hunt, the 70-year-old cinematographer, who goes back to the earliest days of Hollywood, shot the film using the style of low-key lighting, providing dark shots of Monty, contrasted with ghost-like shots of Mary Mitchell (Jacqueline) as she angelically goes to help her troubled husband Arthur."^[8]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 83% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on twelve reviews."^[9]

Difference from the novel

Richard Brooks wrote his novel whilst he was a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps making training films at Quantico, Virginia and Camp Pendleton, California. In the novel, the victim was homosexual. As told in the film The Celluloid Closet and in the documentary included on the DVD edition of the Crossfire film, the Hollywood Hays Code prohibited any mention of homosexuality because it was seen as a sexual perversion. Hence, the book's theme of homophobia was changed to one about racism and antisemitism. The book was published whilst Brooks was serving in the Marine Corps. A fellow Marine by the name of Robert Ryan met Brooks and told him he was determined to play in a version of the book on screen.^[10]

For a detailed account of adapting The Brick Foxhole for the screen and the producers' battles with the censors, please refer to pages 114-123 in More Than Night: Film Noir in its Context by James Naremore (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1998).

Awards

Wins

• Cannes Film Festival: Award, Best Social Film (Prix du meilleur film social); 1947.^[11]
• Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Edgar; Best Motion Picture, John Paxton (screenwriter), Richard Brooks (author), Dore Schary (producer), Adrian Scott (associate producer) and Edward Dmytryk (director); 1948.

Nominations, 1947 Academy Awards

• Best Supporting Actor - Robert Ryan.
• Best Supporting Actress - Gloria Grahame.
• Best Director - Edward Dmytryk.
• Best Picture - Adrian Scott, producer.
• Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay - John Paxton.

Other nominations

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts: BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from any Source, United States; 1949.

References

1. ^ Variety film review; June 25, 1947, page 8.
2. ^ Harrison's Reports film review; June 28, 1947, page 102.
3. ^ "Crossfire". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/11620/Crossfire/overview. Retrieved 2011-05-05. 
4. ^ Crossfire at the Internet Movie Database.
5. ^ Staff. "1947 Academy Awards, Winners and History". AMC Filmsite. American Movie Classics Company LLC. http://www.filmsite.org/aa47.html. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
6. ^ Variety. Film review, 1947. Last accessed: February 26, 2008.
7. ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, July 23, 1947. Last accessed: February 26, 2008.
8. ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, February 18, 2000. Last accessed: February 26, 2008.
9. ^ Crossfire at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: June 9, 2008.
10. ^ pp.34 Daniel, Douglass K. Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2011
11. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Crossfire". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/1947/awardCompetition.html. Retrieved 2009-01-04. 

External links

• Crossfire at the Internet Movie Database
• Crossfire at the TCM Movie Database
• Crossfire review at DVD Savant by Glenn Erickson
• Crossfire film trailer at YouTube